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Can anyone with a laptop tell me what I need to know about buying laptops? I mean, what accessories to buy, etc...
Also, if you have a newer laptop, what kind and model?

I want to soon buy a laptop under $3000 with at least 64 mb RAM, and at least a 6.0 gig hard drive. Also, I want I dock that has or can have a 10/100 nic card. I want the dock and the computer at the same time too, so what should I know about this? Where to buy from, etc...

The only thing I'll say is, just with home computers, 64MB isn't going to cut it for long. Also, while my laptop is somewhat light and portable, it does get heavy. Those paper thin ones (are they still selling those) made me cry when they came out. Ligher=better if you travel (a given, I know).

Far as brand goes, I've owned two, a generic one and a Toshiba, and both gave me some random problems, but I stil use the Toshiba. I'm not sure which one I'd get, so I can't recommend one over another.

I have used portables and laptops exclusively since 1988. I currently own an IBM T20. It rocks. I got it in August. I've also owned and enjoyed Dell, Micron, and NEC. Today, I lean toward IBM and Dell. From what I have read, IBM and Dell are the most reliable and have the best service.

Get at least 128MB memory. It is better to have more memory than the absolute fastest processor.

Go for the lightest weight machine possible. Don't get hung up on the all-in-one machines. When you are on the road, you won't care if you can have both your DVD or CDROM and your floppy both in at once. What you'll care about is how much it weighs while you are carrying it. The machines that have external drives are the lighter ones. I would go with them.

I would go for CD/RW before DVD. You really aren't going to want to watch movies on you laptop. It is very nice, however, to make a permanent backup or transfer large files to CD.

Well yea, I think thats what their for...at home. Otherwise you would also have to carry around your monitor and jeyboard, and for that matter you might as well just carry around a desktop. I think the point of docking stations is to simpify the use of laptops at home.

I would recommend a laptop from Dell...or, barring that, IBM. I would highly recommend against a laptop from Gateway! They are shoddy and clumsy in my family's personal experiences...tech support wasn't too helpful either.

I also hear that Compaq is similar...IE: nice desktops, but little else.